Soups produced from frozen leguminous concentrates are well known in the food service industry. Frozen leguminous concentrates offer the chef a product whose use results in a considerable time savings over making soup from scratch.
Frozen leguminous concentrates were first manufactured by mixing the leguminous product with water, seasonings, gums, modified starch, and the like, and cooking until sufficient water was evaporated to provide a concentration of 25-30% solids. The concentrate was subsequently frozen in half-gallon plastic containers which could then be distributed to outlets within the food service industry. Thawing the concentrate required considerable time. Furthermore, it was necessary to thaw a minimum of one container for use. A chef could then thaw and reconstitute the frozen leguminous concentrate prior to serving.
During the concentrating phase of the above process there is a constant danger of scorching the product. The potential for scorching resulted in a process being developed for preparing leguminous products such as split peas in which there is no danger of burning the product. In this second process dry powdered legumes were prepared by subjecting the raw legumes to live steam at 15 psig for 15 minutes. The steamed legumes were then ground to a fine powder which could be added to a separate batch of legumes which were being cooked according to the first process. The powder provided additional solid material, thus greatly increasing the concentration of the product. The use of a powdered leguminous product eliminated the need for long term simmering, thus greatly reducing the probability of scorching the product. While this process virtually eliminated the potential for scorching, it produced products having undesirable characteristics. For example, peas prepared according to this process have an acceptable but undesirable brown/green color instead of the bright yellow/green color of peas prepared by the first process. Peas produced according to this second process have an undesirable overcooked smell, whereas peas produced by the first process have a desirable fresh pea aroma.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a process which would allow the convenience of thawing any quantity desired and which eliminates the possibility of burning while maintaining the desired color and aroma of the final product. As such, although the prior art has recognized to a limited extent the problem of scorching leguminous food products during processing and of providing a product having the desired characteristics, the proposed solutions have to data been ineffective in producing a satisfactory remedy.